Bandwidth: The Next Big Challenge for Carriers

March 14, 2011

Karen Thatcher, CEO

It seems every time you turn around these days, another device is created to help connect us to the online world.  Ipads, laptops, smart phones, book readers, etc. are making our lives more productive – and more fun – than ever before.

On the flipside, the ease with which we can now listen to music, watch movies, and surf the internet 24/7 from our  mobile devices has created a serious challenge for our telecom carriers’ ability to satisfy the almost insatiable need for us to stay “connected”.

The buzzword? Bandwidth.  And from the looks of it, it is becoming a resource that could become more scarce – and expensive -  in the future.

Bandwidth Police

Internet and cable carriers are beginning to crack down on customers who use more bandwidth than is considered “normal”, imposing caps and extra fees to customers who go over these imposed limits.

at&t has announced that starting on May 2,  the company will be implementing a new 150GB monthly usage cap for all DSL customers and a new 250 GB cap on all U-Verse users.

It looks as if the new rules will only affect users who exceed the new usage cap three times -across the life of the account – not per month.  If and when they do, they will be forced to pay new per byte overages.  Overages will be $10 for every 50GB over the 150 GB or 250GB limit they travel.

at&t is not the only carrier concerned with bandwidth usage.  Cable operator Suddenlink has begun “educating” their customers by providing usage meters that provide monthly statistics on the level of bandwidth usage the customer has racked up.

Smart Phone Apps: Future Bandwidth Hogs

Undoubtedly, the next big wave of bandwidth hogging applications will come in the form of smart phone multi-media apps.

Netflix unveiled its streaming video app for the Iphone and Ipad in August, allowing customers to enjoy movies while on the go. You can bet that every competitor of theirs will soon follow suit with streaming movie apps for every platform.

Real-time video will do its share of bandwidth consumption as we become used to – and dependent on – real-time video chat to communicate with one another.   Skype, the popular desktop video chat application, has gone mobile.  Free video chat is now possible for Android and Blackberry platforms on the Verizon network.

It should be interesting to see just how much our need for bandwidth will outstrip supply in the near future.   Let’s hope that it does not become a scarce resource that pushes prices continually upward.   One thing we should all be thankful for however – we do not have to rely on the Middle East to supply it.